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ONE COMMON FAITH 3“There is every reason for confidence that the period of history now…” |
Early in the twentieth century, a materialistic interpretation of
reality had consolidated itself so completely as to become the
dominant world faith insofar as the direction of society was
concerned. In the process, the civilizing of human nature had been
violently wrenched out of the orbit it had followed for millennia. For
many in the West, the Divine authority that had functioned as the
focal centre of guidance—however diverse the interpretations of its
nature—seemed simply to have dissolved and vanished. In large
measure, the individual was left free
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to maintain whatever
relationship he believed connected his life to a world transcending
material existence, but society as a whole proceeded with growing
confidence to sever dependence on a conception of the universe that
was judged to be at best a fiction and at worst an opiate, in either
case inhibiting progress. Humanity had taken its destiny into its own
hands. It had solved through rational experimentation and
discourse—so people were given to believe—all of the fundamental
issues related to human governance and development.
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This posture was reinforced by the assumption that the values, ideals
and disciplines cultivated over the centuries were now reliably fixed
and enduring features of human nature. They needed merely to be
refined by education and reinforced by legislative action. The moral
legacy of the past was just that: humanity’s indefeasible inheritance,
requiring no further religious interventions. Admittedly,
undisciplined individuals, groups or even nations would continue to
threaten the stability of the social order and call for
correction. The universal civilization towards the realization of
which all the forces of history had been bearing the human race,
however, was irresistibly emerging, inspired by secular conceptions of
reality. People’s happiness would be the natural result of better
health, better food, better education, better living conditions—and
the attainment of these unquestionably desirable goals now seemed to
be within the reach of a society single-mindedly focused on their
pursuit.
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Throughout that part of the world where the vast majority of the
earth’s population live, facile announcements
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that “God is Dead” had
passed largely unnoticed. The experience of the peoples of Africa,
Asia, Latin America and the Pacific had long confirmed them in the
view not only that human nature is deeply influenced by spiritual
forces, but that its very identity is spiritual. Consequently,
religion continued, as had always been the case, to function as the
ultimate authority in life. These convictions, while not directly
confronted by the ideological revolution taking place in the West,
were effectively marginalized by it, insofar as interaction among
peoples and nations was concerned. Having penetrated and captured all
significant centres of power and information at the global level,
dogmatic materialism ensured that no competing voices would retain the
ability to challenge projects of world wide economic exploitation. To
the cultural damage already inflicted by two centuries of colonial
rule was added an agonizing disjunction between the inner and outer
experience of the masses affected, a condition invading virtually all
aspects of life. Helpless to exercise any real influence over the
shaping of their futures or even to preserve the moral well-being of
their children, these populations were plunged into a crisis different
from but in many ways even more devastating than the one gathering
momentum in Europe and North America. Although retaining its central
role in consciousness, faith appeared impotent to influence the course
of events.
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As the twentieth century approached its close, therefore, nothing
seemed less likely than a sudden resurgence of religion as a subject
of consuming global importance. Yet that is precisely what has now
occurred in the form
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of a groundswell of anxiety and discontent, much
of it still only dimly conscious of the sense of spiritual emptiness
that is producing it. Ancient sectarian conflicts, apparently
unresponsive to the patient arts of diplomacy, have re-emerged with a
virulence as great as anything known before. Scriptural themes,
miraculous phenomena and theological dogmas that, until recently, had
been dismissed as relics of an age of ignorance find themselves
solemnly, if indiscriminately, explored in influential media. In many
lands, religious credentials take on new and compelling significance
in the candidature of aspirants to political office. A world, which
had assumed that with the collapse of the Berlin Wall an age of
international peace had dawned, is warned that it is in the grip of a
war of civilizations whose defining character is irreconcilable
religious antipathies. Bookstores, magazine stands, Web sites and
libraries struggle to satisfy an apparently inexhaustible public
appetite for information on religious and spiritual subjects. Perhaps
the most insistent factor in producing the change is reluctant
recognition that there is no credible replacement for religious belief
as a force capable of generating self-discipline and restoring
commitment to moral behaviour.
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Beyond the attention that religion, as formally conceived, has begun
to command is a widespread revival of spiritual search. Expressed most
commonly as an urge to discover a personal identity that transcends
the merely physical, the development encourages a multitude of
pursuits, both positive and negative in character. On the one hand,
the search for justice and the promotion of
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the cause of international
peace tend to have the effect of also arousing new perceptions of the
individual’s role in society. Similarly, although focused on the
mobilization of support for changes in social decision-making,
movements like environmentalism and feminism induce a re-examination
of people’s sense of themselves and of their purpose in life. A
reorientation occurring in all the major religious communities is the
accelerating migration of believers from traditional branches of the
parent faiths to sects that attach primary importance to the spiritual
search and personal experiences of their members. At the opposite
pole, extraterrestrial sightings, “self-discovery” regimens,
wilderness retreats, charismatic exaltation, various New Age
enthusiasms, and the consciousness-raising efficacy attributed to
narcotics and hallucinogens attract followings far larger and more
diverse than anything enjoyed by spiritualism or theosophy at a
similar historical turning point a century ago. For a
Bahá’í, the proliferation even of cults and practices
that may arouse aversion in the minds of many serves primarily as a
reminder of the insight embodied in the ancient tale of
Majnún, who sifted the dust in his search for the
beloved Laylí, although aware that she was pure
spirit: “I seek her everywhere; haply somewhere I shall find her.”
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1. | Bahá’u’lláh refers to the ancient Persian and Arabian story of Majnún and Laylí, The Seven Valleys and The Four Valleys (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1991), page 6. [ Back To Reference] |